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[1] Psalm 117 is the middle “chapter” of the
Protestant Bible and also the shortest.
This section of the Psalter has several of the shortest Psalms: 123;
125; ; 123; 127; 131; 133; 134 and also two of the longest: 118; 119. Several famous composers have
put Psalm 117 to different settings: Bach (Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden);
Mozart (Laudate Dominum); Perosi (Laudate Dominum), Telemann (Laudate Jehovam, omnes gentes), Vivaldi (Laudate Dominum omnes gentes), Zelenka (Laudate Dominum). |
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[2] The Hebrew is not the familiar Halĕlû
Yāh as v.2, but rather halĕlû ˒et-Yahweh (occurs also in Jer.20:13; Psalm 148:1,7). |
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[3] This verse is quoted in Romans 15:11. |
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[4] To
hear Psalm 117 sung listen to Sons of Korah. |
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[5] YAH, a contracted form of Yahweh, occurs
50x in the Hebrew Scriptures, 43 of which are in the Psalms. 26 of the 43 occurrences of “YAH” in the
Psalms are in connection with the Hebrew word for praise – Hallelujah! Hallelujah occurs only in the Psalms
and only at the beginning and/or end of a Psalm (see also Revelation
19:1,3,4,6). It typically occurs in
Psalm units: 104-106 [concluding Psalms of Book IV]; 111-118 [Psalms 113-118,
sometimes called the “Egyptian Hallel”]; 120-136; 146-150 [concluding Psalms
of Book V. These units are sometimes
referred to as Hallel (Hebrew for praise) Psalms. |
